Women not men helping drive smartphone adoption says report

With the smartphone market continuing to rise in prominence, latest reports have suggested it is women more than men that are helping to drive widespread smartphone adoption.

Refuting the belief that smartphones and high-end gadgets are glorified boy’s toys, new figures, compiled by the recent Ericsson ConsumerLab report, have suggested that the female market has become the pioneering front of the smartphone scene, with women reportedly making more complete use of their advanced handsets.

“New figures clearly show that women drive mass-market smartphone adoption,” an official spokesperson for the Ericsson Consumer Lab said. “No less than 97 per cent of female smartphone owners use SMS. A total of 77 per cent send and receive photos, 59 per cent use social networking, 24 per cent check in at locations and 17 per cent redeem coupons.”

Confirming the findings that women, not men, are currently driving adoption of smartphones such as the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Google Nexus 4, they added: “The figures for men are lower in these areas.”

Having suggested that smartphone subscriptions will top 3.3 billion units by 2018, the recent report has highlighted the all-encompassing nature of modern smartphones with on-the-move internet access and handset-based shopping both areas of key growth.

“A total of 32 per cent of smartphone users already shop with smartphones; they now start to combine in-store and online shopping aspects,” the Ericsson Consumer Lab spokesperson said. “They want to see products, get information and make price comparisons, and make purchases immediately without having to queue up at the cash register.”

Quantifying the findings, Michael Björn, Head of Research at ConsumerLab, said: "Our global research program is based on annual interviews with over 100,000 individuals in more than 40 countries and 15 megacities.”

He added: “Over the years we have amassed a huge database of consumer trend data - and we see that the pace of change is currently more rapid than ever"

Who is the more smartphone savvy and helping push adoption of the high-powered handsets, men or women? Share your thoughts on the matter with us via the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or through the comment boxes below.